My Favorite Albums of 2025*
*not necessarily from 2025
Maybe it's because I turned 40 or maybe it's because I'm literally running out of space to store my collection but I only acquired 68 CDs this year (down from 151 last year). Or maybe I'm just getting better at getting things I actually want because, this year, I'll be adding an extra album to the list. That's right, this list goes up to 11 (RIP Reiner).
A brief reminder that the albums on list may not actually be from 2025 (although most of them are this time around), they only needed to be acquired this year. Also, there is no internal ranking and albums are listed in alphabetical order by title.
Tim and Eric - Awesome Record, Great Songs! Volume One
Okay, we're starting this off with a "bargain bin" story.
I've had this rare (and therefore, expensive) CD on my discogs want list for some time now and in late 2024, it popped up for sale from one of my favorite sellers (shoutout to Beautiful World Syndicate - philadelphiamusic on discogs) for far too much money than I was willing to part with. However I also knew that, monthly, if a CD didn't sell, they tended to drop the price. Then, in March, after slowly watching the number decrease month after month, there was a note that this CD was "marked for removal 3/12." I reached out, offered to pay half the listing price (along with purchasing a handful of other "marked for removal albums") and, a couple weeks later, and for an incredibly reasonable price (especially if you do a quick look on eBay right now), I had my hands on a copy of an album I honestly never thought I'd own.
Is it more of a trophy than something I'll listen to on the regular? Maybe. But The Shins covering "I'm Never Gonna Wipe My Butt," is well worth it.
Counting Crows - Butter Miracle: The Complete Sweets!
Duritz and co have always leaned more toward quality over quantity and this most recent installment is no exception. These dad-rock stalwarts add another 5 tracks onto an already solid 4-song-suite (originally released in 2021) and remind the world that their distinct combination of superb storytelling and stellar musicianship are still a force to be reckoned with. Plus, like almost everything they do, I bet these song are killer live. I'll gladly wait another 7 to 8 years for their next one.
Tyler the Creator - Chromakopia
Kendrick Lamar dropped one of the most personal, uncomfortable, and brilliant albums of the decade with Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers, and Chromakopia feels like its little brother - less nuanced, intellectual, and challenging, but equally as honest, probing, and revelatory. It's also a hell of a lot more fun (is that a younger sibling thing too?).
FWIW, I actually prefer the more stripped back test pressing version (with "Mother," instead of "Balloon,") which is the version I currently own (although I will eventually pull the plug on getting the official studio release).
Greet Death - Die in Love
I was not expecting to hear what I heard when I first discovered this band. They're on a heavy label (Deathwish), the album artwork reeks of something sinister, and then, of course, there's the band name. But do not let all of that fool you; Die in Love is one of the most tender albums I've heard this year. Sure, the guitars may burst with waves of distortion but they are met with delicate vocals, enveloping melodies, and earnest (and, at time, quite humorous) lyricism. I'm a sucker for heavy music with clean-as-all-get-out vocals and Greet Death exemplify that combination. I'm thrilled to have made this discovery and I'm eager to dive into their previous work and also see what they have next on the table.
The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Dreams of Being Dust
Prog rock tends to be meandering by nature. And sometimes the rough and rugged paths aren't all that fun to travel. The "prog-emo" journey of Harmlessness is one I find myself going back to quite often but not so much their following two releases. Plus I was skeptical when I read that this new album was the heaviest thing they've put out - mostly because the unclean vocal moments of their debut felt distracting and I was concerned that we might get something similar here. Boy was I wrong.
These songs are focused and tight but still possess just enough shifts and unexpected turns to keep me on my toes. And remember that thing I just said about heavy music and clean vocals? Well, there are definitely unclean moments here but they're less screamo and more metalcore and they are earned. Same with the prog. This is a band stripping away a ton of unnecessarily elements and putting forth an angry, immediate, and vital album and I am here for it.
Pool Kids - Easier Said Than Done
I'll admit, I initially was underwhelmed: nothing popped quite like "That's Physics, Babe," and, upon a first listen, the band seemed to have moved away from the highly accessible mathiness that landed them a spot on my "Top Albums" list a couple years back. But then the album started gracing the top end of other "Best of 2025" lists and that encouraged me to give it another shot.
I have been playing it on repeat ever since.
The math is still there, it's just subtler, finding its way into pauses and fills and melodic structures. There are less easily defined choruses but in their place are songs that grow and deepen and loop around and each re-listen brings something new to the surface.
Sometimes an album instantly grasps you and sometimes you have a give it a bit of time to bloom. This is one of the latter. And, most of the time, the bloomers are the ones that stick around.
Militarie Gun - God Save the Gun
The one-off track with Dazy, "Pressure Cooker," was the 90's alt-rock song I didn't know I desperately needed, so I was thrilled to see Militarie Gun use that as a launch pad into an entire album that feels like it owes as much to hardcore punk as it does to peak era Lit. Sure, the writing gets a little silly at times ("If I kicked you in the face, I'm sorry, but I would do it again") and the anti-suicide, "I Won't Murder Your Friend," is far from a pleasant listen, but goddamn can Ian write an earworm. Plus Issac Brock shows up. So that's cool.
Blondshell - If You Asked For A Picture
12 excellent songs with unflinchingly honest lyrics that brim with 90's vibes, popular music's other Sabrina may not fully be exiled in guyville but she's only a couple of exits away.
Simz takes us on a rollercoaster of emotions all while backed by some of the most vibrant and expansive tracks I've heard on a hip-hop album in some time. Plus, as someone who feels like L. Boogie gets left out of too many G.O.A.T. conversations, the line "I'm like Lauryn in her prime," just puts icing on the cake.
Haley Heynderickx & Max GarcĂa Conover - What Of Our Nature
I miss the younger days of Bright Eyes when Conor would just say it. It didn't matter how trite or petty the words were or how much they lacked in nuance, there was a fearlessness that teenage me craved and admired. And when he channelled that into I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, it felt like the world was finally with me. What Of Our Nature pulls more from Guthrie rather than Dylan, but, like Conor in his prime, Haley and Max aren't afraid to say it. And the world should be with me on this one as well.
PUP - Who Will Look After The Dogs?
No one can bottle depression up in catchy anthems quite like PUP and the anthems this time around are some of the best they've put out to date. I could spend the rest of this post quoting some of my favorite lyrical content of the year, all stemming from this album, but I'll take their advice: "you don't need solutions, you just need to shut your mouth."
Other Assorted 2025 Stuff
Favorite Live Bands seen in 2025:
Little Brother (Brooklyn Bowl - 8/1)
The Beths (Bowery Ballroom - 8/25)
PUP (Brooklyn Paramount - 9/13)
Militarie Gun (Alphaville - 9/18)
Anxious (Brooklyn Paramount - 11/7)
Favorite Movies seen in 2025
Favorite Podcasts listened to in 2025
The Deca Tapes (Season 2)
Favorite Books read in 2025
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya
Favorite Video Games played in 2025
Doki Doki Literature Club
That Level Again (all versions)
